Copy-holder for record-books



(.No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. P. POWELL.

COPY HOLDER FOR BEGOBDBOOKS, &c. No. 543,781. Patented July 30, 1895.

WWW 9%ww Q 6 0% 23 .(No Model.) 7 2 Shets-Sheet 2.

P. P. POWELL. OOPY HOLDER FOR RECORD BOOKS, am.

NO. 543,781. Patented Ju1y 30, 1895.

M 2 m 1 2 7 4 f UNITED STATES PATE T GET-ice.

PHANOR P, POWELL, OF COLEMAN, TEXAS.

COPY-HOLDER FOR RECORD-BOOKS, 8w.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,781, dated July 30, 1895.

Application filed November 26, 1894:. Serial No. 530,021. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHANOR P. POWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Coleman, in the county of Coleman and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Copy-Holders for Record- Books, &c., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to copy-holders particularly designed for recording or transcribing legal instruments in record-books, but useful for other analogous purposes, or wherever manuscript or printed matters are to be copied or recorded.

The chief object of my invention is to provide a copy-holder having paper advancing or feeding mechanism with novel, simple, and efficient means whereby the copy-holder is susceptible of being moved step by step or line for line down the page as the work of the copyist progresses, thus maintaining the line to be copied or recorded in juxtaposition and convenient or better relation to the eyes, and rendering it unnecessary for the copyist to frequently or repeatedly raise the head to inspect or read the lines or matter being transcribed.

The invention also has for its object to provide a new and improved copy-holder which serves as a weight to hold the page of the book in a flat condition when the copyist is working in a breeze.

The invention also has for its object to-provide a copy-holder with new and improved means for connecting it with the top portion of the book in which the deed, legal instru-.

ment, or other matter is to be transcribed or recorded, and enabling the copy-holder to be adjusted or moved at intervals along the page of the book while preserving its operative connection with the top or upper edge of the book.

The invention also has for its object to provide novel means whereby the copy-holder can be suspended or supported in an elevated position from the frame of a table or typewriter or other support if it is not desired to use the copy-holder on a record-book.

These objects are accomplished in the manner and by the means hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the im- 7 proved copy-holder and attachments, showing the line gage or indicator in its raised position for the introduction of the instrument to be copied. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the copy-holder, showing the line gage or indicator in its closed position. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing by a single black line a portion of a paper to be copied arranged in the copy-holder; and Fig. 4.- is a detail perspective view showing the copy-holder applied to supporting-rods for suspending the copy-holder in an elevated position from a table or type-writer.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention,I will now describe the same in detail, referring to the drawings, wherein The numeral 1 indicates a clamp-bar or support composed, as here shown, of a wooden strip, square in cross-section, and having at or near each end two coacting clamp-jaws 2 and 3, one of which is rigidly attached to the wooden strip, while the other is pivoted thereto, as at at, Fig. 3, and is acted on by a spring 5, which forces the clamping end of the pivoted jaw toward the clamping end of the rigid jaw. The arrangement of the clamping-jaws is such as to enable them to be engaged with the top edges of several leaves of a record or other book in which deeds or other legal instruments are to be recorded.

The rear edge of the clamp-bar or support is provided with vertical orifices 6, semicir-.

cular in form and closed at the rear by elastic or yielding friction plates or shoes 7, mounted on or connected with plates 8, secured to the clamp-bar or support for a purpose hereinafter explained. The clamp-bar or support is also provided with a pair of parallel passages 9, through which extend parallel guiderods 10, having jointed sections 12, which can be arranged in alignment with the main portions 10 or turned up at any angle thereto, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1.

The contiguous ends of the parts 10 and 12 composing the guide-rods are rabbeted together and connected by set-screws 13, so that in any position to which the sections 12 are adjusted they can be fixed in position by tightening the set-screws. The heads of the set-screws should be so constructed and arranged that they can move through the passages 9.

The copy-holder is composed of a base-plate 14, rigidly secured to the guide-rods 10, and having an end piece or plate 15 secured to each extremity, which serve as bearings for a pair of paper advancing or feeding rollers 16 and 17. These rollers are preferably composed of shafts journaled in the end pieces 15 and covered with rubber or other elastic or flexible material, and the peripheries of the rollers normally lie in contact, or approximately so, so that when a deed or other legal instrument or paper which is to be copied or transcribed is inserted between the rollers and beneath the lower roller, as indicated in Fig. 3, the paper can be advanced or fed line for line by turning the lower roller 17.

The lower roller can be rotated by any suitable means; but preferably the shaft of the roller is provided at each end with a fingerpiece 18, either of which can be operated by the copyist for the purpose of advancing or feeding the deed or other legal instrument or paper the required extent as the lines are copied or transcribed into the record-book.

The end pieces 15 of the base-piece 14 also serve as bearings for the pivots 19 of a line gage or indicator 20, which is composed of a curved plate having a longitudinal slot 21 of a length suitable for exposing the line of matter which is to be copied or transcribed. The slot 21 can be of any desired width, so that it may either expose a single line or more than one line.

The copy holder herein described and shown is only typical of many forms that can be employed, and therefore I do not wish'to be understood as confining myself to the particular paper advancing or feeding mechau' ism illustrated, as other devices for the same purpose can be employed.

The copy-holder constructed as shown will serve the purpose of a paper-weight, in that it holds the pages of a book in a fiat condition and prevents them from curling up, and is of special advantage when the copyist is working in a breeze. The copy-holder is also susceptible of being adjusted or moved step by step or line for line down the page of the book as the work of the copyist progresses, so that the line to be copied or recorded is maintained in juxtaposition to the eyes, and in such convenient relation thereto as to entirely avoid the necessity of the copyist frequently raising the head to inspect or read the lines or matter being transcribed.

When the clamp-baris connected with the top portion of a record-book by engaging the clam p-jaws 2 and 3 with several of the pages of the book, the copy-holder can be moved any desired extent over the page by simply moving the copy-holder in a direction away from the clamp-bar, thereby causing the guiderods 10 to move longitudinally through the passages 9 of the clamp-bar. The chief purpose of the jointed or pivoted sections 12 of the guide-rods is to enable the copyist to work close to a wall or other object which would inter fere with the convenient use of the apparatus if the guide-rods were not capable of being shortened to meet the conditions required. If the desk of the copyist is near to or against a wall, and for the convenient use of the apparatus it should be necessary to shorten the guide-bars, the set-screws 13 can be loosened and the guide-rod sections 12 turned up at any angle to the sections 10for instance, as illustrated by dotted lines, Fig. 1.

The line gage or indicator 20 may he of any desired construction, but, preferably, it is pivoted so that it can be raised and lowcred, as before explained, and when lowered it can be locked in position by catches 22, pivoted to the line gage or indicator and adapted to engage catch-plates 23, fixed to the end plates 15 of the copy-holder.

If it is desired to use the copy-holder for purposes other than copying or transcribing in a record-book, the copy-holder can be supported or suspended in an elevated position through the medium of vertical rods 24, Fig. 4, passing through the orifices 6 and having at their lower ends clamping-jaws 25 or other suitable devices adapted to engage the framework or any other part of a type-writer or to engage a table or any other support in such manner that the copy-holder can be supported in proper position to enable the copyist to transcribe the paper contained in the copyholder.

The clamp-bar, which supports the copyholder through the medium of the guide-rods 10, is in turn supported by the vertical rods 24, and the clamp-bar can be moved to any height on the vertical rods 24: by simply raising or lowering the clamp-bar. The friction plates or shoes 7 exert sufficient friction to maintain the clampbar in any position to which adjusted on the vertical guide-rods 24; but I do not limit myself to the use of friction devices for this purpose, as many other contrivances for accomplishing the same rcsnlt may be employed.

In the apparatus illustrated the copy-holder has a guide-rod connection with the clampbar, composed of two parallel guide-rods 10; but I do not limit myself to any particular number of guide-rods, as the sliding connection between the copy-holder and the clampbar may be of any construction which will render the copy-holder susceptible of being moved over the page of a book while the clamp-bar is engaged with the edges of some of the leaves of the book.

The devices for engaging the clamp-bar or support 1 with the pages of the book are preferably composed of clamping-jaws, and the same remarks apply to the vertical guiderods 24 as regards the devices for engaging the frame of a type-Writer or a table or other support; but, obviously, other devices for the same purpose can be employed without altering the spirit of my invention.

ICC

- Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The combination of a bar or support, a

copy-holder constructed to lie upon and move over the page of a record book, and a sliderod extending from the rear side of the copyholder to the bar or support, said copy-holder and said bar or support having their bases arranged in substantially the same plane, and the copy-holder movable progressively away from the bar or support over the page of the book as the copying progresses,substantially as described.

2. The combination with a bar or support having devices for engaging the edges of book pages, of a copy-holder provided with paper feeding mechanism and having a free sliding connection with said bar or support, so that the copy-holder can be moved progressively away from the bar or support as the copying or recording progresses, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a bar or support having devices for engaging the edges of book pages, of a copy-holder provided with paperadvancing or feeding mechanism, and a guiderod connected with the copy-holder and having sliding connection with the bar or support, so that the copy-holder can be moved progressively away from the bar or support as the copying or recording progresses, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a bar or support having devices for engaging the edges of book pages,-of a copy-holder having paper-advancing or feeding rollers and a line-gage or indicator and connected with and bodily movable to and from the said bar or support, so that the copy-holder can be moved progressively away from the bar or support as the copying or recording progresses, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a bar or support port and provided with jointed sections, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a clamp-bar or support having clamping-jaws for engaging the edges of book pages, of a copy-holder having paper-advancing or feeding rollers and a pivoted swinging line-gage or indicator, and guide-rods connected with the copy-holder, having sliding engagement with the clampbar or support and provided with pivoted sections movable into and out of alignment with the guide-rods, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a bar or support having devices for engaging the edges of book pages, of a copy-holder having paper-advancing or feeding-rollers, one of which is provided with means for rotating the same, a guide-rod connection between the copy-holder and the said bar or support, so that the copyholder can be moved progressively away from the bar or support as the copying or record ing progresses, and a line-gage or indicator mounted on the copyholder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my'hand and afixed my seal in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PHANOR P. POWELL. -[L.S.]

\V'itnesses:

J. C. DUNN, E. H. OHADWELL. 

